The 2023 AquaMarine Diving – Bali

Posted on January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Annabel Thomas

AMD-B is (more than!) Ready for 2023!

I like the idea of “New year: New start!” however I am happy to confirm the AquaMarine Team will continue to follow our Business-as-Usual progress since borders reopened six month ago.

I say “business” but really, AquaMarine’s approach is far beyond money – we aim to excel, to exceed the expectations of our guests, and to promote (and show) Bali’s diving to the best of our combined abilities.

Here in the office, we have some redecorating to do, and we need to replace two minibuses we sold at the beginning of the pandemic. However AMD-B is most definitely ‘back in its stride’. Our 23 years of experience provides an immoveable foundation!

Later this year, probably from 1st April, our prices will go up.
If you would like advance warning, please email us on Info@AquaMarineDiving.com. Alternatively, you can Subscribe to our Monthly Update (next one will be 14 February) to see details.

In the meantime: If you book and pay a deposit before 31 March, for any trip/diving up to 31 December 2023, we will give you our current prices.

We have an interesting selection of Specials Offers lined up for 2023. Some are centred around specific dates, eg: Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Earth Day, even as far as Christmas/New Year.

Also for our female guests (8 years and above) we have: International Women’s Day, and PADI Women’s Dive Day in July, There’s also ‘International Day of Families’. And ‘PADI AWARE Week’ which is 16-24 September this year – oh, and AMD-B’s 24th Birthday on 18 September 🙂

The easiest ways to get details of these is (as above) subscribe to our Monthly Updates, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and to just email us your dates!

Scuba Diving Indonesia through AMD-B

Posted on December 11, 2022January 10, 2023 by Annabel Thomas

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Scuba Diving Indonesia through AMD-B

The Indonesian archipelago consists of thousands of islands. There are both large and small islands, but there are two things they all have in common: Their natural, exotic beauty and fascinating cultures.

Scuba Diving Indonesia is world renowned for its incredible marine biodiversity. Some Indonesian dive destinations are already famous.

Komodo National Park for drift diving with pelagics, and muck dives in North Sulawesi. The rich walls of Bunaken Marine Park and the critter haven of Lembeh Strait, the underwater limestone scenery of Raja Ampat, or the Wakatobi Islands with their long, pristine reefs.

Scuba diving in Indonesia includes these other wonderful underwater treasure troves:

With their amazing coral formations, Alor and Pantar Islands (Flores) are favourite dive locations for adventure-loving divers.

Ambon and Halmahera in the Spice Islands (Maluku) offer outstanding muck diving and healthy reefs.

Bangka Island (N Sulawesi) is popular with divers seeking more isolated areas. The dive sites can have currents but offer colourful corals swarming with small, tropical fishes and many hunting pelagics.

In West Papua:
– Cendrawasih Bay is famous for the resident Whalesharks which feed at fishing platforms.
– Manokwari Bay for its WWII Japanese shipwrecks.

In the Gulf of Tomini (central Sulawesi), Gorontalo (also known as ‘The Sponge Capital of the World’) remains relatively unexplored, while the Walea Strait offers an ideal environment for healthy and gorgeous coral life along with very calm seas.

Maratua and Sangalaki in Borneo have impressive drop offs with great drift diving to see pelagics.

These areas, and many more, in Indonesia make up the world’s richest marine biogeographic zone.

Why book through AquaMarine Diving – Bali?

Bali is not the only place in Indonesia with phenomenal diving. Therefore, to ensure we provide a comprehensive service for our clients, AquaMarine Diving – Bali is an agent for other reputable dive resorts and liveaboards throughout Indonesia.

Personalised service, direct one-to-one communication with your AMD-B Dive Travel Consultant: We’ll find the right trip for you!

Whether your planned scuba diving in Indonesia will be a long or short trip, or multi-centre, to well known or obscure areas, AquaMarine can book the entire package for you: Dive resorts, liveaboards, land-based activities, and domestic air tickets.

By booking through AMD-B you may be eligible for free add ons, domestic flights, accommodation upgrades, extra dives, private guides, Nitrox and much more.

For more information and advice on scuba diving Indonesia, and enquire about our ‘Beyond Bali’ Special Offers, please e-mail Tours@AquaMarineDiving.com.

Start you trip around Indonesia here
We Make Diving Indonesia Easy 🙂

AquaMarine Diving – Bali Turns 23yo & Why YOU should learn to dive!

Posted on October 11, 2022December 11, 2022 by Annabel Thomas

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AquaMarine Diving - Bali Turns 23yo and Why YOU should learn to dive!

Growing up in the UK, learning to scuba dive never made it onto my To-Do list – too cold and not much to see, at least nothing that would interest me.

Then I did my career girl thing in London which was about as far removed from scuba diving as you could imagine 🙂

I spent several years backpacking, and also lived overseas (the USA 3 times, Australia for a year, Japan twice) but I never thought of learning to dive.

It wasn’t until March 1998 when I was living in Jakarta and someone I thought I knew pretty well told me that on her recent holiday in New Zealand, she’d dived the Rainbow Warrior shipwreck (the Greenpeace boat bombed by French intelligence operatives in Auckland harbour in 1985) that I had a “I want to do that!” moment!

So the next month I went up to Manado, North Sulawesi and got certified – it genuinely changed my life!

That May I spent two weeks diving in Bali, mainly around Menjangan Island in the NW, and Tulamben Bay, with a Day Trip to Nusa Penida to visit Manta Point.

I returned to Jakarta and resigned; moved to Bali in December, taking my PADI Divemaster in January, and becoming an Instructor in April. I received the licence for AquaMarine Diving – Bali on 18 September 1999, and I’ve never looked back!

No, it hasn’t been plain-sailing – but what in life ever is! – however I have an amazing team in AMD-B: Helpful, friendly, supportive. And some of the world’s greatest, and most diverse, diving right on my doorstep! I am ‘Living The Dream’.

Why am I writing this? Well partly because AMD-B turning 23yo has made me feel a bit introspective, a bit nostalgic 🙂

But mainly because I want to put this message in writing: Even if learning to scuba dive isn’t life-changing for you, it will benefit you in ways you’d never imagine –

– It improves your self-confidence and self-reliance.

– Scuba diving is The Most Relaxing pastime ever (very far from being an ‘Extreme Sport’!).

– As the saying goes: It’s a different kind of pressure underwater … no mobile phones, no social media, the incessant chatter is just the fish, the only sounds are your breathing. And we all need some respite from the 24/7 of the 21st century.

So, please, learn to dive – and then give the gift of scuba diving to your friends and loved-ones!